Survivors have renewed calls for the former Australian governor general Peter Hollingworth’s lucrative pension to be stripped and redirected to survivors of abuse after two complaints of “serious neglect” related to his failure to act on knowledge of abuse were substantiated against him.
There is no suggestion Hollingworth abused children himself.
Hollingworth, who was Brisbane archbishop of the Anglican church before becoming Australia’s 23rd governor general, was recently the subject of an additional investigation by the Melbourne diocese, overseen by Victoria’s Commission for Children and Young People under its reportable conduct scheme.
The investigation considered seven complaints and found two to be substantiated.
The substantiated findings relate to his failure to act on knowledge of abuse, including his failure to remove bishop Donald Shearman after becoming aware of his abuse of children, documents show.
The commission has referred Hollingworth to the Victorian Department of Government Services for a reassessment of his working with children clearance, according to documents seen by the Guardian. The findings and referral were first reported by the ABC and the Australian.
One of the substantiated findings relates to survivor Beth Heinrich, who was abused by bishop Shearman.
The investigation considered an allegation that “in 1995, Anglican minister Mr Peter Hollingworth kept known child sex offender Bishop Donald Shearman in the Anglican ministry, allowing Bishop Shearman to continue to have access to children”.
Documents show that finding was substantiated. The investigation concluded this conduct represented “significant neglect of a child”.
Heinrich told the Guardian that the findings should force the federal government to strip Hollingworth of his $357,000-a-year pension and lucrative taxpayer-funded entitlements.
“The government should look at his pension again and think about taking it away from him and using the money for damaged children,” she said, echoing calls made by child abuse expert Prof Chris Goddard.
The stripping of his pension would require legislative change. A push for reform by Greens senator David Shoebridge did not win support and a Senate committee advised against creating powers to strip pensions from governors general found to have engaged in serious misconduct.
A spokesperson for Hollingworth said the findings do not relate to any new allegations and that he had no intention of working with children.
“There are no new allegations,” the spokesperson said. “Dr Hollingworth has not worked with children for many years and has no intention of doing so in the future.”
The findings follow an earlier, much-criticised process run through the Anglican church’s complaints-handling body, Kooyoora. That process considered his conduct against internal church standards.
It eventually led to multiple findings of misconduct against Hollingworth over his time as Brisbane archbishop in the 1990s, when he allowed two abusers, John Elliot and bishop Shearman, to remain in the church despite knowing they had sexually assaulted children.
Despite the misconduct findings, the church’s professional standards tribunal recommended Hollingworth be kept on as a priest and that he was fit for ministry, provided he apologised and was reprimanded.
Hollingworth later announced he would return his permission to officiate.
At the time, he said his continuing presence in the church was a “cause of pain to survivors”.
“I want to end distress to them and division within the church,” he said in a statement.
In an earlier statement, he said he had been “ill-equipped to deal with the child abuse issue” and relied on the advice of lawyers and insurers.
“I say that as a matter of context, not as an excuse,” he said. “I have lived with my failures every day since.
“It is more than 20 years since allegations against me were first made. There have been five separate inquiries, including the five-year inquiry by the [professional standards board]. They have occupied countless time, energy, emotion and expense for many people.”
